9.00am: Let's start the morning with Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative chairman. He's not a particularly influential figure in the party any more, but he's still got a good turn of phrase and he was on Radio 5 Live this morning knocking clumps out of the coalition. This is what he had to say about the idea of some form of mansion tax.

Wealth, on the whole is money that has already been taxed. I've got a bigger house than most people. That's partly because I need it to house two carers to look after my wife. Should I be taxed then on the basis that I live in a mansion? I wouldn't bloody well need such a big house if my wife hasn't been nearly murdered by Sinn Fein IRA so you have to look at these things sensibly.

The normal way in which government works has broken down. Mr Cable's letter should not have surfaced in this way at all. These are matters that should be thrashed out between colleagues in an orderly fashion ... You just get on with it and do it when you're the secretary of state, you don't write letters which then one of your little boys hands to the press for your own party bickering purposes.

This is an odd charge because Cable is actually criticising himself in his letter, as you can see if you read the full text (pdf) in which he admits he has been indulging in "self criticism". But never mind. With PMQs coming up, we're likely to be hearing more about Cable's letter, child benefit and taxing wealth. I'll be covering all the developments.

And here's the full agenda for the day.

8.30am: Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, launches a "staycation" campaign encouraging people to holiday in Britain.

10am: Lord Blair, the former Metropolitan police commissioner, and two other former senior Met officers, Bob Quick and Tim Godwin, give evidence to the Leveson inquiry.

And there are also speeches from Nick Clegg, who is visiting the Hague, and Francis Maude, who is giving a speech to Policy Exchange on Tory modernisation. Both speeches are taking place tonight, but extracts have been released in advance, so I'll be taking a look at them.

As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon.

And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog.

9.09am: The Ministry of Defence has announced that six soldiers are missing, presumed killed, in Afghanistan. Here is the MoD statement in full.

It is with very great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that six soldiers are missing, believed killed, in an incident involving an explosion against an armoured vehicle on the 6th March 2012 in the Task Force Helmand Area of Operations.

Six soldiers, five from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, were on a mounted patrol when their Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle was struck by an explosion.

Lt Col Gordon Mackenzie, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "I have the tragic duty to report that six soldiers are missing, believed killed, during a security patrol. The six soldiers, five from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's, were on patrol in a Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle when it was caught in an explosion in the Task Force Helmand Area of Operations."

Details are still being confirmed and further information will be released in due course. The families of the soldiers have been informed.

Photograph: David Jones/PA

9.12am: And here two more statements from the MoD about the missing soldiers.

From Philip Hammond (pictured), the defence secretary

This tragic incident brings home to us the dangers that are faced on a daily basis by the men and women of our Armed Forces deployed in Afghanistan. My thoughts are with the families and friends of the 6 soldiers who are missing, believed killed and also with their colleagues, both in Afghanistan and the UK, whose brave work continues or is about to start ...

We should never forget those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan to protect our national security.

It is because of the continuing efforts of our Armed Forces, working alongside the Afghan National Security Forces, that we are on course to build an Afghanistan that can stand on its own two feet when UK combat operations cease at the end of 2014 and never again becomes a haven for international terrorism.

From General Sir David Richards, chief of the defence staff

I was deeply saddened by the news of this incident and that six soldiers are believed to have lost their lives doing what is a dangerous but important job ...

This campaign has seen many personal tragedies and we owe it to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to recognise that their courage and skill is visible in the ever more capable Afghan Army and Police.

Increasingly the Afghans themselves are taking the lead in providing security across Helmand. This transition is allowing Afghans to gain the confidence to reject the Taliban and live normal lives.

9.26am: Here is some more reaction to the leaked Vince Cable letter from the morning programmes. I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

From Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary

I think if you read the whole of that letter, first of all Vince Cable is very honest and says that he needs to do more and his department needs to do more, but he's actually doing what all cabinet ministers do, which is write to the prime minister and write to the chancellor and say, look, honestly, this is what I think we're doing well, and this is what I think we need to do better at.

From Lord Oakeshott, the Lib Dem peer (and a Cable ally)

I don't think it helps anybody necessarily to have the leak ... The important thing is what it actually says, and what it says is constructive and positive and is just an example of ministers in government working together trying to make things happen.

From the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries

I think it's a fact of government that when someone writes a letter like Vince did it's for one reason and that's to get it into the public domain and the media. So I think we can cut the cynicism and shock horror from Lord Oakeshott saying he had no idea how it got there. This letter was written for one purpose only: to put the Liberal Democrats' point of view out into the public domain without being seen to do it in a way which was confrontational.

From Caroline Spelman, the (Conservative) environment secretary

Manufacturing is very important to my constituency and I think you'd expect the business secretary to set out the case for a policy that will help growth in his area.

9.52am: Here's what the Press Association have filed about the "staycation" initiative announced by Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, this morning.

To mark Olympic year, some holiday companies will be slashing 20.12% off the cost of trips.Tourists will be able to take advantage of the discount by using a dedicated website before the end of the Paralympics on September 9 to make bookings for this year and 2013.More than three million hotel rooms are already lined up under the project, which is being backed by a range of companies including Butlins.Attractions, such as the London Eye and Alton Towers, are also taking part.

And here's what Hunt said about it on ITV's Daybreak. I've taken the quote from PoliticsHome.

I hope this will make a big difference ... because these are real money off offers, the biggest ever collection of money off offers that we've ever done for people who want to holiday at home, and they will run right the way throughout the year. In fact, there will be offers on [the website] for holidaying next year. The only thing we say is that to get these discounts you have to book a holiday before September 9 which is the closing ceremony of the Paralympics.

10.24am: David Cameron has described the presumed killing of six soldiers in Afghanistan as a "desperately sad day for our country".

It is a reminder of the huge price that we are paying for the work we are doing in Afghanistan and the sacrifice that our troops have made and continue to make. I do believe it's important work for our national security right here at home but of course this work will increasingly be carried out by Afghan soldiers and we all want to see that transition take place. But today we should think of the families.

10.28am: And here's Ed Miliband on the presumed death of the six soldiers in Afghanistan.

It is tragic news that six of our soldiers are missing, presumed dead, in Afghanistan. Our hearts go out to their families, friends and colleagues.

This is a dark day.

We salute all of our fallen and those who continue to serve in the face of the gravest danger. They are serving with bravery and courage and we owe them all a huge debt of gratitude.

Top earners are at risk of losing generous tax breaks on their pension contributions after David Cameron and Nick Clegg agreed a truce over the so-called mansion tax.

Liberal Democrats accept that their chances of winning Mr Cameron's approval for a tax on top-end properties is unlikely to bear fruit. Instead, the Government is examining new curbs on the tax relief given to higher earners, particularly those earning more than £150,000 a year.

The plans would form part of a tax crackdown on the wealthy that the Government is considering in return for axing the 50p top rate levied on income above £150,000.

Mr Cameron should ignore both the Tory right and the Lib Dems. Instead, he should focus on the 40p tax band, which now ensnares nearly twice as many people as when Tony Blair took office in 1997. It penalises people earning little more than one and a half times average full-time earnings, yet George Osborne, the chancellor, is dropping thresholds to appease his coalition partners.

Instead of playing around with taxes on the wealthy, why not drop this rate to 38p? To do so would cost £1.9bn a year – but it would put money back in people's pockets and, even more importantly, encourage those suffering strivers. As we have seen so often in the past, reducing income taxes can be the best way to boost growth, but the benefits need to be spread as widely as possible.

Some believe Mr Osborne is launching an assault on middle Britain. Nadine Dorries, a persistent critic on the Tory benches, said: "The problem is that policy is being run by two public school boys who don't know what it's like to go to the supermarket and have to put things back on the shelves because they can't afford it for their children's lunchboxes. What's worse, they don't care either."

Two senior reporters at The Sun have apparently attempted to commit suicide as the police intensify their scrutiny of alleged illegal journalistic practices at News International.

The apparent attempts to take their own lives in recent days follows weeks of intensifying scrutiny of The Sun's role in the press ethics scandal over phone-hacking and corrupt payments to police ...

The two journalists in question have been checked into hospital and their care is being paid for by News International, according to two people familiar with the situation. News International declined to comment.

Resettlement payments" were abolished in the wake of the expenses scandal, uncovered by The Daily Telegraph, amid widespread anger at rewards for MPs who had been caught with "their fingers in the till".

But the funds have been reintroduced on an "interim" basis. Deposed MPs will be able to claim the allowances in the event of a snap election before 2015. A permanent policy on resettlement payments will be agreed next year.

• Maude says the government needs to push decentralisation much further.

In government we are doing [decentralisation]: introducing directly-elected Police and Crime Commissioners to gave us all a say in how our streets are policed, more city mayors and a more open, transparent politics. But we need to go further. We need a wholesale decentralisation of power back to local areas - this will strengthen the fabric of British society and ultimately make our institutions at every level of government more effective.

• He says he wants to extend mutualisation. NHS services worth more than £1bn are already delivered by mutuals, he says. And he cites Marx to back his case.

Karl Marx was right. Well - about one thing at least. Alienation is a central problem in modern society. For people who do not own feel alienated. They feel dispossessed from any control over their own destiny. Of course Marx wasn't right about the solution. But this is a problem which Conservatives can solve. And a big part of the solution is to spread ownership ...

So how can we rise to the challenge of alienation in our modern time? Yes by consolidating and expanding on the successes of our past through the property-owning democracy. So a renewal of the Right to Buy is long overdue. But we must go much further if we are to improve the lives for everyone in Britain. A central means will be by encouraging mutuals.

• He says that we are living in "a new age of open data".

In the future we face challenges including climate change, energy use, security, aging populations and migration we need our critical infrastructure and services to be more aware, interactive and more efficient. Open data will be crucial in making this happen. And I have no doubt as we become increasingly data rich we will all look back and wonder how we ever tolerated such collective ignorance in the past.

12.01pm: David Cameron starts by saying a military vehicle in Afghanistan was stuck by an explosion yesterday. Six soliders are missing, presumed killed. This would be the largest British military loss of life in Afghanistan since 2006. It would take the overall casualty toll to more than 400.

12.03pm: Nick Boles, a Conservative, asks Cameron to use his meetings with President Obama next week to plan a prudent drawdown of troops from Afghanistan.

Cameron says Britain and America are "in lockstep" about the importance of training up the Afghan forces.

12.04pm:Ed Miliband expresses "profound sadness" at the news from Afghanistan. We owe an immense debt of gratitude to soldiers.

Does Cameron agree that it is important to stress our aims in Afghanistan - a more stable country.

Cameron agrees. British forces are there to prevent the country becoming a safehaven for al-Qaida. Britain is making progress. The Afghan army is now 184,000-strong. People need to understand why having troops there "is in our national interest".

Miliband says there needs to be a political settlement in Afghanistan. What diplomatic progress is being made?

Cameron says a stronger political settlement would help. There are "some good signs", he says. The Afghan and Pakistan governments are having "proper discussion". It is important to tell the Taliban they won't win on the battlefield.

12.08pm: Jack Lopresti, a Conservative, asks Cameron to confirm that British troops will stay in Afghanistan for as long as required to complete the mission.

Cameron says there is a very clear timetable. The process can be completed by the end of 2014. But after that Britain's relationship with Afghanistan will go on.

12.10pm: Simon Hart, a Conservative, says the NHS is worse in Wales than in England.

Cameron says this is an important point. That shows what happens when the NHS does not have money and reform.

12.11pm: Labour's Dame Joan Ruddock asks if Cameron is proud of his decision to remove all disability benefits from a child with cerebral palsy.

Cameron says he is not taking away disability benefits. He is replacing them. He says that he speaks as someone who has actually had a child with cerebral palsy, and filed out a form to claim disability benefits.

12.12pm: Ed Miliband asks about a delivery driver who works 20 hours a week. Under the government's plans, he will lose all his tax credit unless he works 24 hours a week. He has asked for extra hours, but can't get them. What would Cameron say to him?

Cameron says that tax credits were going to 9 out of 10 families. Single parents have to work 16 hours to get access to the tax credit system. The government is telling couples that they should have to work 24 hours between them - 12 hours each - to get access to the tax credit system.

Miliband says the driver's wife is looking after their children. She can't work. The driver and 200,000 other families will lose under this. During the election Cameron said his changes would not hit low-income families. That's untrue.

Cameron says it is not unreasonable to ask a couple to work 12 hours each. There is a massive budget deficit. If Labour won't support cuts, how would he deal with the deficit.

12.16pm: Miliband says there are five people looking for every job in the area where his driver lives. Turning to child benefit, he says Cameron said before the election he would not cut child benefit. Cameron has broken his promise to low-income families. Why has be broken his promise to higher earners too?

Cameron says people on £20,000 should not have to pay for Miliband's child benefit. Life is about difficult decisions. It's a pity Miliband can't take them.

Miliband says Cameron said clearly he would not take away child benefit. There is a simple term for this; it's a broken promise. Does Cameron understand why people don't believe him when he says we're all in this together?

12.20pm:PMQs Snap Verdict: Powerful stuff from Miliband. Cameron had an explanation for the benefit cuts, but he didn't have any defence to the charge that he was breaking his promises. More later ...

12.21pm: Labour's Tom Harris asks about a constituent arrested in Goa on drug charges. Will a Foreign Office minister meet with Harris to discuss this. Cameron says he will arrange this.

12.22pm: Lee Scott, a Conservative, asks about a project in his Ilford North constituency helping people with special needs into work. Cameron praises the project.

12.23pm: Labour's Sharon Hodgson asks about Nadine Dorries's quote in the Financial Times which I mentioned earlier. (See 11.00am.)

Cameron describes Dorries's comments as "nonsense".

12.24pm: Cameron says the "Clare's law" initiative announced this week is a breakthrough. He also wants the government to create a specific offence of stalking, he says.

12.25pm: Labour's Brian Donohoe asks whether the uncertainty created by the SNP about the independence referendum is harming inward investment into Scotland.

Cameron says he agrees with this point. As he is visiting Donohoe's constituency soon, he offers to share a platform with him attacking the SNP.

12.27pm: Louise Mensch, a Conservative, accuses Corby council of not publishing certain information.

Cameron agrees with her point. He says transparency in local government is important.

12.28pm: Cameron says the government will consider the justice committee's recent recommendations about changing the law in relation to relatives who go missing.

12.29pm: Cameron says he wants to create a benefit system where people are always better off in work.

12.30pm: Tim Farron, a Lib Dem, asks the government to bring cancer services to Kendall. Cameron says he will arrange a meeting with a minister on this.

12.30pm: Cameron says the last government put £45bn into RBS. It is important to get that money back, he says.

12.31pm: Kris Hopkins, a Conservative, says five of the six solidiers presumed killed in Afghanistan served with a regiment that Hopkins himself served in.

Cameron says the government needs to do more to help service families. That is what the military covenant is about.

12.33pm: Labour's Gisela Stuart asks about the government outsourcing some police functions, saying that in Birmingham there have been long delays because translation services have been outsourced.

Cameron says the shadow police minister said Labour did not object to outsourcing in principle. He welcomes reports that Stuart is considering standing for election as a police commissioner.

12.36pm:PMQs verdict: Unusually, this was a PMQs that was actually enlightening. Labour started highlighting the plight of the 200,000 families who will lose out from the tax credit changes coming into force in April almost a month ago. But, until today, I don't think I've heard a minister explain why the number of hours that couples will need to work to qualify for tax credits is going up from 16 to 24. If a single parent needs to work only 16 hours, it seems reasonable to require a couple to work 24 hours, Cameron said. It was an explanation of sorts. But Cameron could not answer the key point raised by Miliband: how are people going to up their hours from 16 to 24 when the extra work isn't available? It was a powerful point, made all the more effective by the fact that Miliband didn't deploy any parliamentary knockabout, like using the Nadine Dorries quote. (See 11.00am and 12.23am.) The exchange illuminated the debate about welfare cuts and deficit reduction quite effectively. But what was also interesting was the way Miliband also turned it into an argument about broken election promises. Cameron can explain why he needs to cut government spending. But, as we've seen in the NHS debate (where Cameron is at his weakest when challenged on his "no top-down reorganisation pledge), he can't defend breaking a promise.

1.02pm: MPs are now debating the "humble address" to the Queen congratulating her on her Diamond Jubilee.

Other people who reach notable milestones get a card, or a bunch of flowers, but Her Majesty qualifies for a debate in parliament. If you thought Andrew Marr's recent documentary about her was a bit too sycophantic, then this event probably isn't for you. David Cameron opened the debate and here's a typical extract.

Last year's visit to Ireland was a lesson in statecraft.

It showed once again that the Queen can extend the hand of friendship like no other.

She was the first monarch to visit China. The first to visit Russia. The first to pay a state visit to the Vatican.

Her trip to post-Apartheid South Africa was a statement that resounded across continents.

And of course, there is the Commonwealth.

It is doubtful whether this great alliance would ever have thrived without the dedication of Her Majesty.

When the Queen became Head of the Commonwealth in 1952, it had eight members; today, it has 54.

No one has done more to promote this unique family of nations, spanning every continent, all the main religions and nearly a third of the world's population.

And in all her realms, from Tuvalu to Barbados, from Papua New Guinea to St Vincent and the Grenadines, from Britain to Jamaica, she is loved because she is a Queen for everyone; for each of us and all of us.

But Cameron's speech wasn't all this gushing. There was at least one decent anecdote.

Indeed, while much her life has been governed by tradition and protocol, the Queen has always taken a thoroughly pragmatic view of such matters.

On arriving at one engagement in Scotland, she noticed that the poor local Lord-Lieutenant was having considerable trouble extracting both himself and his sword from the official car in order to perform the introductions.

While embarrassed civic dignitaries cleared their throats, the Queen cut straight through this seemingly insoluble ceremonial problem by walking up to the greeting line, hand outstretched, with the words…

…"My Lord-Lieutenant appears to be having difficulty in getting out of the car, so I'd better introduce myself. I'm the Queen."

2.00pm: Here's a lunchtime summary.

• More than 1,700 disabled workers face the prospect of redundancy after it was announced that Remploy is proposing to close 36 of its 54 factories. As the Press Association reports, Maria Miller, the minister for the disabled, said the Remploy board was proposing to close the sites by the end of the year because they were unlikely to achieve independent financial viability. She said the £320m budget for disability employment has been protected, adding that the money will be spent more effectively. Miller said savings from policy changes being announced will be used on "proven employment programmes" to benefit "many more" disabled people.

• Cameron has defended the government's plans to make couples work longer if they want to receive tax credits. At PMQs Ed Miliband raised the change, which Labour say could lead to 200,000 families losing almost £4,000 a year when it comes into force in April. Cameron replied:

We are dealing with a basic unfairness where we ask a single parent to work 16 hours before getting access to the tax credit system, so it's only right to say to couples that between them they should work 24 hours - ie, 12 hours each. If they do that they will be better off.

Miliband accused Cameron of breaking a promise he made before the election that Conservative changes to tax credits would not hit low-income families. But Cameron said he was having to take difficult decisions, and that Miliband was weak because he was not willing to take these decisions himself.

• Cameron has told MPs that he rejects Vince Cable's claims that the government's move to promote growth are "piecemeal". Asked if he agreed with this assessement in the leaked Cable letter, Cameron replied: "Obviously I don't agree with that. This Government is cutting corporation tax, creating apprenticeships, building enterprise zones, making sure that right across our economy there is the rebalancing taking place that is necessary for sustained economic growth."

• Cameron has said the government will crack down on so-called legal highs. After another MP raised concerns about a drug called Black Mamba, Cameron said: "We are determined to stamp out these so-called legal highs. The Home Office is aware of this particular drug. We now have this drugs early warning system that brings these things to attention."

• The Leveson inquiry has heard that Rebekah Brooks arranged to borrow a horse from the Metropolitan police after having lunch with its then commissioner, Lord Blair.• A doctors's leader has said that hospital consultants are being distracted from caring for their patients by the need to fight the government. In a speech, Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, said: "Consultants have been pushed into conflict by a belligerent and obstinate government, when we would far rather be planning improvements in clinical services. The tragedy is that doctors' time and effort is being increasingly diverted away from seeking to improve patient care."• Cameron has led tributes to the Queen in the Commons in a debate congratulating her on her Diamond Jubilee. "The nation holds her in its heart, not just as the figurehead of an institution, but as an individual who has served this country with unerring grace, dignity and decency," he said.

• Theresa May, the home secretary, has rejected a call for the pay of elected police commissioners to be cut if they have other jobs. Responding to the suggestion from the Senior Salaries Review Body, she said: "We understand the intention behind it, but we believe that the best way forward is for [police and crime commissioners] to be clear with their electorate about what outside interests they have and for the electorate to judge them accordingly." Commissioners will be paid between £65,000 and £100,000, depending on the size of the force they oversee.•Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has said that he wants the Olympics to succeed. He was clarifying his position after giving an interview to the Guardian recently saying that the unions should consider using strike action during the Olympics in their battle against the government's cuts.• The Liberal Democrats have described the secrecy over Olympic tickets sales as "shameful". In a news release, Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London assembly Olympic spokesperson, said: "LOCOG ongoing secrecy over Olympic tickets is shameful. They have already sold over 7 million tickets and there is no reason at all why they could not publish today the full details about the price of tickets already sold for each and every Olympic event."

2.15pm: Here's Liam Byrne (pictured), the shadow work and pensions secretary, on the news that Remploy is closing 36 factories.

The welfare reform bill has been law for just a week, and the government's first callous act is to throw hundreds of disabled people straight on the dole.

Two-thirds of Remploy factories will now be shut and their workers, thrown into the market-place with just £2,500 to help them get another job, with no guarantees about the factories that are briefly spared.

It is frankly outrageous that the government has tried to smuggle out the news on the day of the Parliament's celebration of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee.

We will be demanding that ministers are summoned to the House of Commons to explain themselves.

2.43pm: Of the 36 Remploy factories closing, seven are in Wales. Leighton Andrews, education minister in the Welsh government, has put out this statement.

The Welsh government is profoundly disappointed with the decision by the UK government to reduce its current subsidy to Remploy, resulting in the closure of Remploy factories in Wales, England and Scotland. This has wide-reaching implications not only for the lives of individuals, but also for families and communities across Wales. It is clear that Wales has been disproportionately hit by the closures announced.

Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

3.06pm: The Cabinet Office have now released the full text of the speech that Nick Clegg is going to give in the Hague this evening. In it, Clegg says the government is going to toughen up the law on violence against women so that people can be prosecuted in Britain for using violence against women anywhere in the world. Here's the key passage.

On the eve of International Women's Day, I'd like to express the UK's support for the principles in the Council of Europe's Convention on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. A landmark agreement aimed at lifting the standards of protection for women across Europe. We are getting ourselves in a position to sign later this year, and I know that the Dutch government is working towards signing the convention too.

A staggering one in four women living in Europe suffer physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. That abuse is outrageous anywhere. But it is especially scandalous in a continent that prides itself on having lead the way on gender equality and human rights. Rape, female genital mutilation, psychological abuse – these have no place in modern, open societies.

The UK already has tough rules in place. But there are areas where we can and must do better. One of the most important is bringing perpetrators to justice when they commit offences in other countries - otherwise known as extra territorial jurisdiction.

We already prosecute British citizens for committing murder or paedophilia abroad. I want us to be able to do the same to British men who seriously hurt women anywhere in the world. There must be nowhere to hide.

I came away distinctly pessimistic about the prospects for Labour developing a coherent position on this stuff. A Fabian Society audience is a very particular crowd, but often representative of the intellectual mood of the party. If last night's discussion is anything to go by this is very, very far away from the political mood of many people whose votes the party needs. Most Labour MPs I speak to recognise this problem. Their constituents are lapping up the government's tough rhetoric on welfare. The holy grail for Labour is a position that reassures the public that the benefits system is fair, not wasteful, rewards effort, does not offer something for nothing, while also meeting the high moral demands of activists who think any accommodation with Conservative language on this theme is craven capitulation to the forces of darkness.

I believe the electorate are best placed to make judgments on whether elected representatives are able to pursue other interests in their spare time. Indeed, it would be quite illiberal to pass laws restricting and regulating what individuals can do in their evenings and on weekends.

Indeed, the effect of your proposed regulations would have meant you were unable to serve as Mayor of London when you were first elected in 2000, since you were a Member of Parliament, had paid columns in The Independent and the Evening Standard, had a book contract with Victor Gollancz, and received five-figure sums from after-dinner speaking agencies. Subsequently, during the period you were Mayor, you had a continuing commercial interest in Localaction Ltd, receiving payments for television, radio and writing.

• Downing Street has defended the government's decision to close 36 Remploy factories. The prime minister's spokesman said "segregated employment" was not the way forward for disabled people. Maria Miller, the minister for the disabled, said: "We know through our employment services arm that we can support as we did last year 20,000 disabled people into mainstream employment, with employers like BT and Argos and Asda. We want to make sure that more disabled people have that choice rather than the choice at the moment."

• Nick Clegg has indicated that the government will legislate to enable people to be prosecuted in Britain for committing serious violence against women anywhere in the world. (See 3.06pm.)

• The credit rating agency Moody's has refused to apologise to MPs for its role in the credit crunch. At a hearing with the Commons Treasury committee, when asked if Moody's was apologising, Frederic Drevon, its managing director, said: "We clearly indicated we were not satisfied with the performance of our ratings." A Standard and Poor's executive told the hearing that it had expressed regret for what happened and a Fitch executive said it had apologised for what it did wrong.

I'm not here tomorrow. My colleague Haroon Siddique will be writing this blog instead. But I'll be in action again on Saturday and Sunday, when I will be covering the Lib Dem spring conference in Gateshead.